2a : Episode One : A Time of Madness
by Taidine
Summary: XANA is up to it's usual tricks, possessing a policewoman on the trail of some impossible evidence.  Our heroes can deal with it...  if they can get the nosey new editor of the Kadic Herald off their backs.  Part of an alternate lateseasontwo story arc.
1. Chapter 1 : Kloe

**Episode One : A Time of Madness**

Soundtrack: Edie Brickell's "What I am" (for Kloe)

Chapter One: Kloe

Kloe? Who is this Kloe? Oh, another Mary-sueish addition to the Lyoko gang who's going to save the day… No! It' not like that! Well, maybe in the first episode. But please, give me a chance. It gets less cliché, I promise.

_Taidine_

Sunday, that beautiful day of freedom. Yes, by 'freedom' we really mean 'freedom to study and do all the homework from the past week,' but the fact that no one was caged in class created a cheerful buzz in the cafeteria of Kadic. The imposing lunch lady dished out today's choices of poison with a smile. Knots of friends and classmates drifted briefly together for bursts of jovial conversation. Two teachers chatted in the back, looking considerably less stressed then they did in class. A boy pounded with good-natured frustration on a malfunctioning vending machine. A girl slipped on a tray and was saved from falling on her back by a friend standing behind her, causing both to dissolve into giggles.

In one quiet corner, sitting slightly hunched over a sectioned tray filled with nameless, unidentified bits that were almost certainly meat, was a teenaged female with pale, flyaway hair and an air of intense concentration. She dug into the… food, presumably …with a cheap plastic spork, never once looking down. Instead her eyes were focused straight ahead, staring at either empty air or the 'got milk?' poster at the other end of the cafeteria as though it held the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Or the question, depending on what you believe.

Whatever she was thinking, it was about to be interrupted. A pair of girls, clearly younger, were walking towards her corner at a pace just short of a run.

"Kloe," the first stammered. She was red-haired and slightly shorter then her companion. "The notice board says we have to interview _Sissi_!"

"Sissi?" Kloe spoke for the first time, in a mid-ranged voice rank with sarcasm _in potentia, _although what she said now was serious. "Oh, Elizabeth. She's the principal's daughter. QED."

"But she _hates _us!" Shrilled the redhead, "She's a… she'll _never _give us an interview!"

Kloe looked down at her lunch tray as if seeing it for the first time. "We have to do a story on this lunch. The school deserves to know what it's eating." The two younger girls stared blankly; Kloe smiled wryly and refocused on the task at hand. "Later. Let's go interview Sissi."

With much aplomb, she snagged her book bag, a purple monstrosity that could have comfortably fit a dog or small child, from under the table. It was also stuffed to the brim with papers. Several spilled out as she shuffled through them, but she successfully located a pen. With the air of a warrior gearing for battle, she tucked it behind her ear, where it nestled snugly amongst jaggedly cut locks of yellow hair.

Prepared and fortified, she rose. Her set expression suggested she had faced down mountains and won, so no mere human could stand before her; it wasn't arrogance, so much as determination and unassailable certainty, but the distinction was a fine one. "Lead on," she instructed the junior reporters, and, exchanging glances, they hesitantly obeyed.

Sissi sat surrounded by her usual cronies, pink-shirted, black-haired, and secure in the ruling of this corner of the cafeteria. Running a jaded eye over the spectacle, Kloe placed the principal's daughter immediately and firmly in the category of Stuck Up Priss. _I thought I was going to stop that, _she admonished herself; _she may be a very nice person._ She wished the thought were more convincing.

"Miss Elizabeth? A moment of your time, please?"

Sissi glanced up - deigned to glance up, by her expression. "It's _Sissi_, and my time is more valuable than anything a newbie has to say to me," she proclaimed in nasal tones, eyes half closed. Kloe realized that Sissi, despite being several feet lower, was managing to stare down her nose.

"My name is Kloe Makhavi," the reporter began, trying to barrel over any objections by sheer force of inertia. "I'm the new editor of the Kadic Herald. We're starting a column on students of note and were hoping to feature you first." Flattery couldn't possibly hurt.

"I get to be featured in a paper read by three students? That's wonderful," said Sissi, too sweetly. "Not. Take your journalist rats and find someone who cares."

"…Thank you for your time?" Said Kloe dubiously. Time to play her trump card. "Milly, Tamia, I guess we'll be interviewing Yumi first."

That turned Sissi's head almost as quickly as 'Elizabeth' had. "Yumi?" She all but shrieked, scorn in her voice thick enough to make the younger girls shrink back. Kloe wondered if her hair was burning under Sissi's hateful glare. Whoever Yumi was - Kloe only knew her as Sissi's rival - she could almost pity the girl. "Well, if you're _that _desperate, perhaps I could spare a moment."

Two tables down, a boy with improbably spiked hair grinned at his glasses-wearing companion on the other side of the table. "Whaddya know? Sissi's speaking to the journalists."

With the air of one not wishing to get involved, the boy with the glasses glanced over his shoulder and nodded vaguely. "Didn't she swear she'd never do a piece for their paper?"

"Looks like someone made them forget," chimed in the pink-haired girl sitting next to him. She sounded pleased. "That's the new girl - Kloe. She's in my language class."

"If she wants to knock Sissi down a peg, best of luck to her," said the first speaker, saluting.

"Fine," muttered he final member of the group, a brown-haired boy, "as long as she doesn't try to but into _our _business."

All three others nodded. The last thing you need when trying to save the world in secret is a nosy journalist.

An electronic chirp sounded from under the table. The boy with the glasses leaned down and snagged an austere laptop. "Uh-oh. Looks like XANA's activated a Tower."

Two tables away, Kloe watched as the group of four stood to leave, the brown-haired boy pulling out a cell phone. "Milly? Tamia? Finish the interview."

- - - - -

The principal's office is a place every student dreads. The troublemakers know it well, like an old rival. The more appropriate students, or the wiliest of the rebels, feared it as a vaguer threat. They didn't know the square, claustrophobic layout, the stiff chairs for visitors, the stark desk at which the principal himself, supreme ruler of the school, sat like a grey-haired harbinger of doom…

"James? You can go now," said the principal, putting down his phone. "And tell whoever's outside to come in."

Tingling with the shock of reprieve, a small boy with darting eyes and an overactive imagination rose from his uncomfortable seat, nodding to the principal and thanking whatever higher powers might exist for this unexpected salvation. He hardly glanced at the tight-lipped policewoman outside who strode in as he left, expression suggesting the principal was about to receive a taste of his own medicine.

"Sir?" She said as soon as she had entered fully, voice crisp and militant. The principal nodded with just a touch of trepidation. She was an imposing woman, tall and solidly built, with age adding a touch of grey to her hair but not marring the muscular physique her uniform emphasized rather than concealed. "We've found a… rather inexplicable paper trail leading to this school. First is a report about…" she pulled a palm-sized notepad from her pocket as though not trusting such ludicrous claims to memory, "living dead, or zombies? The officer who filed it, when questioned, refuses to admit to any knowledge of the document. Then…" The principal listened, or at least gave the impression of listening, and his thick eyebrows drew steadily closer together as she talked. He wouldn't look directly at the policewoman, but he was either giving her his full attention or lost in thought - he certainly didn't notice the blue sparks crackling from a light bulb overhead.

"…mechanical monsters, but the snapshot referred to in the report was never found and I think I would have remembered a thing like that…"

Blue light crackled convulsively, and the light bulb gave a chime of breaking glass. The policewoman stopped and looked up; the principal made a puzzled "Hmm?" noise.

Shapeless black billowed out of the now-bare socket, reaching out inky tendrils to taste the air. For a frozen moment the nebulous black stain hung suspended in midair, then plunged towards the policewoman.

In seconds, it had vanished.

"Umm…" essayed the principal. The policewoman stood with her eyes closed. "Officer? Are you all right? Officer?"

Her eyes blinked open. The pupils flickered weirdly, solid one moment, some alien symbol of concentric circles the next. Or was he imagining that? He must have imagined the black cloud too, something like that was just silly… "Officer?"

The last thing he saw was her fist before the world went black and he slumped forward across his unnaturally clean, polished desk, breathing shallowly.

The policewoman rubbed her knuckles reflectively. Then, eyes flickering, she turned and headed out the door, searching.


	2. Chapter 2: Investigative Journalism

** Episode One : A Time of Madness**

Soundtrack: Edie Brickell's "What I am" (for Kloe)

Chapter Two: Investigative Journalism

Outside, it was mid-afternoon. The students who had finished lunch were mostly out here, enjoying the weather; it would be too cold to enjoy by the end of the month. The trees, the people, and the odd metal structures in the tiny playground had a real, solid look from the short, crisp-edged shadows cast by a fading autumn sun.

Incongruously serious, four kids tore out of the many-windowed cafeteria. "I called Yumi," the brown haired boy panted, putting away a cell phone without breaking stride as he spoke, "She says she'll meet us at the factory."

"Good thinking, Ulrich," said the glasses-wearing boy in the lead. "With any luck, we'll be able to shut down the Tower _before_ XANA launches its attack for once."

The group flashed past the playground and into the well-manicured woods, silent except for panting, and skidded to a stop in front of a metal hatch. The boy with the purple streak in his hair knelt to lift it.

"Jeremie," the pink-haired girl addressed the bespectacled boy breathlessly, "Someone's following us!"

There was a moment of silence, save for the wind in the leaves. "Are you sure, Aelita?" Queried the boy, Jeremie, at last. "I don-" A sharp crack from the trees, followed by a strangled yelp, cut him off.

"I'll go see who it is," said the boy with the gravity-defying hair, "You guys go ahead."

"Be careful, Odd," cautioned Aelita, lowering herself into the pipe.

"No need." Brushing twigs and leaves off her coral-colored shirt, the angular figure of Kloe emerged from the woods.

"Kloe," stated Ulrich, "What are you doing here?"

"Investigative journalism," the girl replied, sounding perfectly serious despite the cynical undertones inherent in her voice. "I want to know what's going on here."

"Nothing! Why would you think anything's going on?" Protested Odd, sidling over as if to conceal the fact that Aelita was halfway down an entrance to the sewers.

"Please! I know my average is ten points lower then Jeremie's, but I'm not _stupid_. I'm surprised no one else has noticed by now. Every few days the whole group of you suddenly has to use the bathroom or go to the infirmary and you don't reappear for hours. What gives?" Kloe glowered.

"Uh… We're fighting an evil supercomputer called XANA that's trying to take over the world?" Hazarded Jeremie, on the theory that sometimes the truth makes the best lie.

Kloe blinked. "Wow. That's just too ludicrous to be made up. Can I come?"

"You… uh… weren't supposed to believe that," muttered Jeremie.

"No," Ulrich answered her bluntly.

"You see - Ah!" Jeremie's explanation was cut off abruptly as the bulky shape of the policewoman loomed suddenly out of the woods.

"XANA," said Odd nonchalantly as Jeremie climbed down, "On second thought, maybe you can come."

Kloe leapt down onto the ladder with alacrity, nearly treading on Jeremie's fingers in her haste. Odd followed seconds later, moving quickly to give Ulrich room.

Not quickly enough. The pixelized police officer bulled across that grassy ground, trailing digital afterimages, reached down, and grabbed the brown-haired student. Large hand fastened about his neck, she lifted him with superhuman strength so he dangled several feet in the air, lashing out futilely, struggles growing weaker by the second.

"YAH!"

With a grunt, she dropped Ulrich as the shoes of a black-haired, black-clad girl hit home in the small of her back. Eyes fizzing with XANA's symbol, she directed her attention towards this new annoyance.

"Yumi!" Gasped Ulrich.

"Get to the factory," the girl shouted, rolling to avoid a punch and rising into a wary crouch, "I'll hold her off!"

"I can help!" Ulrich protested.

Yumi dodged under another swing ad thrust out her legs, throwing the policewoman momentarily off balance. "Aelita will need you. I'll be fine!" XANA's temporary minion tried to bull past her into the tunnel, but Yumi managed to swing a decent punch, distracting her opponent.

Then Ulrich, too, was descending. He pulled the hatch shut behind him with a definitive clang; in the sudden darkness, no one could see his concerned expression.

A yard down the tunnel, Aelita and Jeremie were already unfolding their scooters. Odd and Ulrich grabbed a skateboard each, sliding them flat and springing on with practiced ease. Kloe eyed the remaining board with some trepidation. "Hey! I don't know how to skateboard!" She shouted down the echoing tunnel. _I should really stop getting myself into these situations._

Ulrich, last in line, glanced back at her briefly. "Better learn fast," he advised, and pushed off smoothly with his right foot.

Kloe lowered the board gingerly to the ground and put one foot on it as though afraid it would bite. "Learn fast. Easy for mister uber-athlete to say…"

There was a thump, as though something heavy had landed on the tunnel hatch. Reminded abruptly of why speed was necessary, Kloe tried to imitate Ulrich's smooth push-off. Her board wobbled, inching forward. _Great. Just great. I can't imagine they're going to wait for me, either…_

- - - -

With the hiss and click of complicated locking mechanisms disengaging, the doors of the elevator cracked open. Weathered metal worked in intricate circular patterns on the door set the tone for the rest of the factory, with its worn industrial décor and tangles of ambiguous wires. The four who burst out of the elevator hardly gave it a second glance; the dilapidated old factory was as familiar to them as their boarding school by now. Jeremie slid into his chair without looking, fingers flying across the keyboard before he was even completely settled. "Get to the scanner room," he told the others. Dancing green text cast fluorescent highlights on the thick lenses of his glasses. "I'm loading the virtualization program."

There was a second hiss-click, and the elevator doors parted to reveal a blond girl with a slim choker and coral-colored shirt, rubbing her knee where a rip in her jeans testified to one spill too many. Not as blasé as the rest of the group, she froze as the doors closed behind her, staring at the coiling wires, the fiendishly complicated computer equipment, the vast pillar of the central hard drive, and Jeremie with his headset and steady, certain typing.

"So, what can I do?" Kloe asked.

"Huh?" Jeremie's head jerked around, startled. "Oh. You're still here. Not much." Then his attention was back on the computer. "Set?"

Downstairs in the scanner room, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita stood in the golden pillars. "Loaded and ready," pronounced Odd wryly.

"Scanner - Odd!" Said Jeremie, pulling up the catboy character card. Kloe, watching over his shoulder, made a sound halfway between puzzlement and appreciation. "Scanner - Ulrich," Jeremie continued. The samurai character flashed briefly on the screen before being replaced by a pink-haired elf-girl and "Scanner - Aelita!"

Down in the scanner room, lights brightened and hair floated as though in a strong updraft. "Transfer, Odd! Transfer, Ulrich! Transfer, Aelita!" Called Jeremie's voice over the distant sounds of machinery. Then, finally:

"Virtualization."

- - - -

Back on school grounds, mere yards away from the hatch covering the tunnel entrance and screened from the school by a scant band of foliage, Yumi ducked another punch. The possessed police officer missed by a hair, fist impacting a nearby tree hard enough to make bark creak. Yumi winced; she couldn't keep this up for much longer. She had felt the wind of that blow. The next one would come even closer.

With a fluid forward roll, she evaded another jab and lashed out with her own stiffened hand. Too far. The policewoman grabbed her wrist, holding her easily with one hand as the other swung around for the final blow. Yumi leapt, curling her knees to her chest protectively; her opponent's strike was thrown off course, hitting her ribs instead with crushing force and tossing her backwards against a tree.

The world swung, tilted giddily. _At least it wasn't my head, _she thought, hauling herself to her feet. The ground wiggled away every time she tried to shove it under her, and the world was closing like a camera's iris, until there was nothing left but a buzzing in her ears and black.

Acting on inaudible orders, the policewoman opened the metal hatch and dropped through into the tunnel.

- - - -

In Lyoko, weather never changes. The desert sector's bleak, parched golden climate never suffered a rainstorm, or even a light drizzle. XANA had shrouded it in mist, on occasion, but the only things that regularly fell from the sky were virtualized humans.

Soundlessly, grids appeared over the arid landscape. Color spread over them like spilled water, revealing two boys and a pink-haired girl, backs stiff, eyes closed.

One after another, they dropped to the ground, landing with practiced ease.

"I'm sending in your vehicles," came Jeremie's voice from the air around them. Odd's overboard and Ulrich's 'bike materialized in front of them. "The Tower is dead ahead."

Odd looked. "Yeah. Jeremie? We might have a little bit of a problem."


	3. Chapter 3:  The Pen is Mightier then the

**Episode One : A Time of Madness**

Soundtrack: Edie Brickell's "What I am" (for Kloe)

Chapter Three: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

"We might have a little bit of a problem," went Odd's high-pitched voice, made even squeakier by Jeremie's earpiece.

On the screen, a good two-dozen red-labeled dots winked into existence. "Oh, _no!_" Jeremie exclaimed.

"Exactly," Odd agreed.

"Krabes, blocks, and tarantules completely ringing the Tower," Jeremie reported. "And here comes our favorite - Scipazoa!"

In the virtual world, Odd grimaced, a feral expression with the purple tattoos banding his face. "Only one thing to do - I'll provide a distraction."

Ulrich swung aboard his bike. "I'll take Aelita."

They plunged forward into madness.

- - - -

"What's a scipazoa?" Asked Kloe.

"Uh - a monster created by XANA to steal memory. Careful, Odd!"

The catboy rubbed his virtual arm, where blue sparks fizzled a moment, then vanished. "Thanks for the warning," he muttered sarcastically.

"What's that?" Kloe pointed to a number on the screen.

"Life points. If - why am I explaining this to you?"

Kloe shrugged. "Because you like to show off. Only natural. Or because there isn't much else you can do at the moment. Or maybe because I'm pretty. Take your pick."

Jeremie was saved from the embarrassment of responding - none of those options sounded especially appealing - by the hiss of the elevator doors opening. He didn't look up from his computer screen. "Yumi - great. Get to the scanner room."

Kloe did look up. "Jeremie, that's not Yumi…"

There was a crackle, as of electrical discharge. The stolid figure of the policewoman stepped into the room, eyes flickering with XANA's symbol.

Now Jeremie did shift his bespectacled gaze. "Augh!"

"What is it?" Piped Odd's voice from Jeremie's earpiece.

XANA's minion sprang forward, trailing digitized afterimages. Kloe grabbed the pen from behind her ear and whipped it around; it sped like a dart from her fingers to lodge in the policewoman's shoulder.

Attention formerly directed at Jeremie shifted to the other blonde in the room. _Oops, _was all Kloe had time to think before a large hand snagged her by the back of the shirt.

Jeremie glanced at a red-flashing box… Odd's life points. "Odd, you're almost…"

A well-aimed laser from a tarantule's gun arm took the catboy squarely on the chest. He dissolved into flickering, fractal squares.

"Odd's been devirtualized."

Kloe, flailing wildly, managed to yank another pen out of her pocket. Grimly, she jammed the ink-tipped point into the corded hand holding her suspended. With a grunt, the policewoman released her. It was a two-foot, stomach-lurching drop to the hard factory floor - Kloe landed with an "Oof!" of lost breath. "Good. I could use a little backup," she managed, attempting to roll away from an incoming blow and rise. It might have worked too, if her knees hadn't gotten in the way, but somehow she ended up sprawled on her back. The idea that this might actually be dangerous was beginning to sink in through the syrup of panic, and she was no black belt or whatever Ulrich was. Her trick with the pens was from dart club, and that had been a hobby she had given up a good year ago. Still… did she have anything else sharp in her pocket?

She rolled again, desperately evading a crushing fist but smacking the chill, unforgiving metal of the factory wall for her trouble. A thick cable allowed her to rise to her feet, or at least into an ungainly crouch, from which she leapt away…

Tumbled backwards into the elevator, which had opened in the commotion, and landed at the feet of a purple-clad figure with gravity-defying hair.

"Looks like you could use a hand," quipped Odd, leaping over her to land in an easy crouch. "Hey, XANA! Over here!"

Panting, Kloe rose to her feet and stepped gingerly out of the elevator. Odd was already running circles around the possessed policewoman; she felt a stab of irrational envy, quickly suppressed by relief that someone who knew what he was doing could risk his life.

Back by the computer, Jeremie's expression had gone from grim to doomed. Kloe couldn't stop the question - "What's wrong?"

"Everything!" Jeremie answered, "Ulrich's just been devirtualized!"

Kloe's mouth twisted to one side. "Aelita?" She prompted.

"If Aelita loses all her life points, she'll be gone," Jeremie explained, staring at the computer screen as if he could change the facts by sheer strength of will. "But XANA won't risk that. It's after her memory."

"XANA being the evil supercomputer trying to take over the world?"

"Yeah, that XANA." Jeremie paused, and when he began again, he was addressing his earpiece. "Aelita, just watch out for the scipazoa. I'm going to contact Yumi."

A picture of a girl in a kimono and Asian face paint popped up on the screen.

- - - -

Outside the metal hatch left carelessly open and the tunnel leading to the factory, a cell phone rang. The prone figure of Yumi stirred weakly, emitting a small "unh" of pain.

_Ring ring._

Pushing herself up on her elbows, Yumi opened her eyes hesitantly. The policewoman was gone. _Long gone? How long was I out?_

_Rring._

She reached for her phone and flipped it open. "Jeremie?"

"Yumi, where are you? Aelita's alone in Lyoko!"

"Lyoko? How long - it doesn't matter. I'm just outside the passage. Be right there." Tucking away her cell phone, Yumi dropped down into the tunnel.

The first thing apparent was the lack of her skateboard. "Huh?" There was no reason for that; XANA snitching it hardly seemed likely. Another question she could ask later. Settling her expression grimly, Yumi began to run.

- - - -

In Lyoko, Aelita was running too. Running, dipping, dodging, easily evading half-hearted shots. It wasn't the lasers of XANA's monsters she had to worry about.

"Aelita, stop!" Shouted Jeremie's disembodies voice, "The scipazoa is right in front of you!"

The pink haired elf froze, panting heavily. Looming in front of her like the ghost of a particularly menacing jellyfish was the one creature in Lyoko that would harm her - a memory-draining scipazoa.

She whirled, but not quickly enough. Translucent tentacles lashed out, catching waist, legs, and arms, and lifted her from the dusty ground. "Ah!" She tried to struggle, but the red glow was sliding down the tentacles and into her limbs. All-too-familiar paralysis spread through her. _No!_ she wanted to scream, but her body was too stiff. She couldn't use her mouth anymore. Not even her eyes would shift. _Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi! Help! Anyone! _But there would be no sudden release as tentacles were severed by a whirring fan or deftly swung katana; Yumi was too far, and Ulrich and Odd had both been devirtualized. _Anyone… _Red pulsed down the tentacles, surrounding her in a rubescent glow. …_help. _ And the memories began to flow.

- - - -

"No!" Jeremie shouted.

Kloe watched with some puzzlement as a figure appeared on the screen. Rendered in monochrome though it was, the distinctive pink hair unrecognizable, there was no mistaking it for anyone but Aelita. A three-dimensional image of a brain appeared inside her head, shifting out to the side. Next to it, a countdown began.

"Does that represent memories, perchance?" Kloe ventured as Jeremie stared at the beeping screen.

Jeremie held his head in both hands, his expression one of total defeat. She doubted he heard the question. "I can't believe I let this happen! Yumi's never going to get here in time!"

Kloe pursed her lips and glanced sideways, wondering where Ulrich and Odd had gotten to. An idea was forming in her mind; she didn't like it, but she couldn't see an alternative. "Send me."

"I can't virtualize Odd or Ulrich again, and I can't pull Aelita out because-"

"Send me!" She spoke louder this time, and firmer, with more confidence then she felt.

Jeremie broke off with a satisfying "Huh?"

"Send me into Lyoko," Kloe clarified, "if you can. I don't want the world taken over by a supercomputer and all of us to wind up in _The Matrix _any more then you or the others do."

"But it's dangerous," Jeremie protested, "I would need more time to prepare…"

"Jeremie," Kloe glanced meaningfully at the countdown, "I have a feeling if something isn't done, it won't matter if I'm here or in Lyoko - everything will be dangerous."

Jeremie stared at his computer screen. For a long moment, she was sure he would refuse, but when he finally spoke, without looking away from the flickering count down, it was to say a grim, "Alright."

- - - -

Odd and Ulrich had backed the policewoman almost out of the Factory, but both were beginning to tire. XANA's possession granted the victim unnatural strength and agility; all the boys had was natural skill, coupled with human inventiveness and strength in numbers. It wasn't much. It wasn't enough.

Their opponent hadn't shown some of the other abilities of XANA-fied humans, though, no balls of electricity or beams of purple sparks. Of course not. XANA had focused his attack in Lyoko. _And it worked, _Ulrich thought bitterly. Aelita should have been to the Tower by now; by his aching limbs, it seemed he had been fighting hours. Maybe this was it. Maybe this time there would be no moment when the symbol of XANA vanished from his opponent's eyes to be replaced by glassy confusion.

He dodged a kick and leapt onto a pile of crates for a moment of respite. That was no way to think. Yumi was probably already in Lyoko. The Tower would be down soon. Just had to hold out for a few more minutes.

- - - -

Over the pounding of Yumi's footsteps, her cell phone rang. Fumbling it free of its holder without breaking stride, she glanced at the display on the front to confirm the caller, then flipped it open and held it to her ear. "Hi, Jeremie," she panted.

"Yumi, how far away are you?" the computer operator asked.

"About five minutes," she guessed. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. Yes. I'm sending in Kloe, it might buy you some time."

"_Kloe?_" Yumi demanded incredulously, but the line was dead. She grit her teeth and increased her speed.

- - - -

As the doors of the scanner clanged shut, Kloe was seized by a wave of claustrophobic indecision. Grace, but she was an idiot. Why had she agreed to this? _Because it was my idea. _Honestly, though, there probably wasn't really an evil supercomputer trying to take over the world, it might all be some insane joke and wouldn't she look a fool…

_Stop blathering, _she told herself, but the fact was what had seemed real and compelling in the Factory was beginning to seem rather silly.

"Scanner, Kloe," said Jeremie's disembodied voice, sounding somewhat dubious. A ring of light blinked on, and an upward rush of air lifted her hair - a fan, or was she falling? If so, she was falling very, very fast. Her skin tingled and unpleasant thoughts about dangerous radiation sprang to mind.

"Transfer, Kloe," went Jeremie. She must have closed her eyes, because the light was replaced be a tunnel striated with red, and when she lifted her hand, she saw nothing. Although she couldn't feel anything either - there was no feeling, no sense of having so much as a finger to her name.

"Virtualization."

It was rather like being assembled piece by piece at high speed, fragments flying together and clicking into place. She wondered fleetingly how Odd and Aelita and the rest could stand doing this as often as they apparently did, then realized she was falling.

She hit the ground hard, letting out a breath of air in a noise rather like 'oof.' Her eyes wrenched open, and what air remained in her lungs escaped in a sharp gasp.

It was a computer game.

Well, of course it was. But somehow she hadn't quite expected this: computer rendered sand, flat sky, and colors too saturated for life. Yet it all felt solid and moved when she tilted her head.

Pushing herself to her feet, feeling strangely light, she reached up a hand to brush off her shirt.

Stopped.

Her hand was as computer rendered as the landscape, and her coral-colored shirt had vanished, to be replaced by some kind of button-up coat, crimson embroidered in gold, harkening back to the Revolutionary War era British uniform, perhaps. Breeches in the same flamboyant shade covered what leg the flaring bottom of the coat left bare, ending in turned up cuffs above brown, flat-heeled boots. She wondered if she was wearing the quintessential plumed, tricorne hat as well. _Blast, but I hope not. _It didn't matter. The crowning accessory was a tooled leather bandolier hanging across her chest. A dozen narrow tubes held as many heavy metal rods, fletched on one end, coming to a needle-fine point on the other. Maybe Jeremie had done it, or maybe the computer program had picked up some mysterious resonance, but she wouldn't be helpless in Lyoko.

"Kloe?" Came Jeremie's disembodied voice, "Is everything okay?"

Lifting the topmost dart from its holster, Kloe grinned wolfishly. "Yeah. Everything's great."

Jeremie paused as though trying to determine what she meant, then apparently decided it didn't matter and barged on. "The Tower is dead ahead. I'm sending in the overwing; you don't have much time."

A patch of arid air shimmered, then was suddenly shaped by a fluorescent green grid. Kloe blinked and the grid was gone, or at least, covered by the steel blue skin of the strangest vehicle she had ever seen, a round platform swept up at the sides into handlebars like a scooter's. Certainly the strangest vehicle she ever intended to _ride._

Leaping aboard, Kloe grabbed the handlebars with both hands. "How do you - !"

The kick of the vehicle abruptly starting forward cut her off, and indeed nearly knocked her off.

"Handlebars control speed," Jeremie read from his computer screen, eyes flicking anxiously between the overwing program box and Aelita's dangerously low countdown. "Lean over to steer."

It was an effort of will to loosen her white-knuckle grip on the handlebars, but a slight lessening of the dizzying blur that the landscape had become allowed her to breath again. At least her hair couldn't be messed up in a video game. And if she had been wearing a hat, it must have blown off by now.

"Slow down, or you'll crash right into a monster!" Jeremie gulped.

"Easier said then done," Kloe muttered, voice sharp as one of her darts despite its low volume. Something large loomed in front of her: panicking, she leapt off the overwing. Unable to halt, the vehicle crashed into…

Kloe didn't see the vehicle dissolve into fractal bits before vanishing. She was too busy staring at a large, reddish creature looming up before her on multi-segmented legs. A domed top, inscribed with a vaguely familiar symbol of concentric circles, tilted towards her, malevolent eyespot flashing red.

"Watch out, it's a krab!" Jeremie shouted. The urgency in his disembodied voice made her jerk - a lucky thing, as a laser whistled through the air towards where her head had been. Without conscious thought, she whipped a dart out of her holster and tossed it. Another was in her hand before the first struck home and the krab fell apart in a pile of cogs and components.

_Where did that come from? _She stared down at the weapon in her hand. _I never got those reflexes from dart club._

"More krabes coming your way. Hurry up!" Jeremie pleaded, "Aelita's straight ahead."

Kloe nodded, for all the good that did. She could see something ahead of her, translucent, glowing faintly red. It looked almost like a jellyfish - far larger then any jellyfish of earthly seas, but that was the closest comparison she had. Held helpless in its tentacles was a pink-haired elf.

Running, Kloe let her first dart fly… and realized she wasn't alone.

- - - -

The policewoman had Ulrich pinned to the ground with one hand. Odd lay dazed against the opposite wall. Exhausted, Ulrich only struggled weakly; Odd wasn't moving at all.

"Yah!" With a cry, Yumi slid down the rope at the entrance, swinging free crazily to land on the possessed officer's shoulders. Momentarily distracted, she released Ulrich's throat. He gulped air and managed, "Aelita's alone in Lyoko! We can handle this."

"Yeah, right you can." Yumi was putting a great deal of effort into keeping her tone light. "You two are getting your butts kicked." She dodged a blow and swung back into the fight with a strong uppercut.

- - - -

A laser clipped Kloe's ear, tingling, and struck the ground two feet away. A ring of blocks had closed in around her and Aelita, targeting with utmost care, but she didn't have time for that. Snatching another pair of darts, she held one in each clenched fist like a pair of siangham and leapt into the air.

Her jump carried her above the lasers, and before the blocks could follow her she was diving. Folding into a smooth somersault - _I can't do a somersault! _- she extended her arms and landed lightly amongst the scipazoa's tentacles. Down came her hands, and the weapons they grasped: severed feelers fell like so many snipped threads around her.

- - - -

The beeping on the computer stopped. Jeremie opened his eyes, dreading what he might see…

Aelita's remaining memory had frozen at 000010.

"Yes!"

- - - -

Aelita climbed to her feet, shaking her head dazedly. Her eyes fell upon her rescuer. "_Kloe?_"

"Long story, no time, gotta get to the Tower," the journalist summarized, "it's right on the other side of those blocks."

Not waiting for Aelita's nod, Kloe sprang to her feet, loosing a dart at each of the two blocks in front of her, and sending another two off before the first pair struck home. A laser caught her in the back, but she was running after Aelita, the Tower growing closer. Almost there…

Another laser struck, and she felt herself dissolving into a shower of numbers.

- - - -

"Yumi…" Ulrich struggled to his feet. "You have to - ah!" He touched his leg. It felt broken.

"I won't leave you," she said. Not even a proclamation; a statement of fact. It was all very touching, but it had distracted her at a crucial moment. The policewoman's hand caught her in the stomach and flung her back against the wall.

Ulrich struggled to stand. Yumi!

- - - -

Aelita touched the side of the Tower, feeling it part and ripple under her fingers. Two steps took her through.

All sounds of laser fire cut off. The Tower was serene. She wished she had time to luxuriate in it, but she didn't, not while a battle was on. Not since Jeremie had materialized her. There would always be some things she missed about Lyoko.

The rings of Xana's symbol lit quickly as she all but ran to the center. An updraft of air and familiar weightlessness swept her upward; she tilted her head back, eyes closed, expression beatific. This she couldn't rush.

The scanner cracked open, spilling Kloe out, weak as a sack of flour. Light! Video games shouldn't hurt that much.

"Aelita's in the Tower?" she asked the air, limping towards the elevator.

"Yeah," came Jeremie's voice, "but I'm getting some pretty weird programming artifacts…"

His voice was cut off by the elevator.

- - - -

IDENTIFICATION: AELITA

CODE: LYOKO

She knew that, however weird her head felt. Around her, the Tower dissolved into darkness. Was she meant to say something else, now?

- - - -

"No, no, no…" Jeremie muttered, reading lines of computer language. "Return to the past now!"

- - - -

Yumi stood up, bent over her stomach. The policewoman had lifted Ulrich, and she didn't think he could take getting flung against the wall again. With a defiant cry, she ran forward, hitting the cop in the side. Ulrich, Yumi, and the policewoman fell to the ground. "Huh?"

The possessed officer's eyes flickered and resumed normalcy. "What's going…" she started.

A sheet of white light swept over them.

- - - -

School. The cafeteria. An atmosphere of delighted freedom, augmented by light pouring in through the windows. At one table, Kloe and two other journalists interviewed Sissi; for a moment, the blonde girl looked uneasy. But she never glanced two tables down…

…where Odd appeared to be nursing a headache, Ulrich was rubbing his leg, and Jeremie looked anxious. "I thought going back in time was supposed to get rid of injuries," Ulrich muttered, hand on his calf. "It's not as bad as it was, but…"

"I didn't have much time to load the program," Jeremie explained.

"Yeah - thanks for saving us and all," Odd said, "but something tells me that wasn't why you were in such a hurry."

"No. After the scipazoa lost Aelita, I started getting some weird programming messages, and…"

"Jeremie?" Aelita broke in. She was staring at Odd, no hint of recognition in her eyes. "Who's he?"

"…I was afraid something like this might happen," the computer geek sigh. "Oh, man."

**– Fin –**

_Cliffhanger! And... that's episode one. Nine more to go. To my eternal shame, I did, in fact, virtualize Kloe in the first episode - but she's not in the next one at all, and I assure you all, it only gets better from here._

_Taidine_


End file.
